For the first time one of the categories - Twitter Public Personality - will be decided by a public vote. Following initial nominations the three candidates with the most nominations in this category will be put up for a public vote on www.commentawards.com to decide the winner.
Now in their fourth year, The Comment Awards celebrate the best of the UK’s comment media, in print and online. They are run by the media, analysis and networking organisation Editorial Intelligence in association with Barclays, Jaguar Land Rover and Vodafone.
Charlie Burgess, Editorial Director of Editorial Intelligence, said: "The Comment Awards have become recognised throughout the industry and are the ones that the cream of Britain’s commentariat want to win. With the introduction of new Twitter awards we are recognising that the rules of the game are changing all the time. In all categories we are expecting a bumper crop. Get those nominations rolling."
The panel of judges will be chaired by Harvey Goldsmith CBE, and amongst this year’s handpicked opinion-former judges are: Carla Buzasi, Editor-in-Chief, Huffington Post UK; Huw Edwards, Presenter, BBC News at Ten; Anoushka Healy, Group Managing Editor, The Times & The Sunday Times; Lindsay Johnston, IB Operations Chief Operating Officer, UBS; Cliff Oswick, Head, Faculty of Management, Cass Business School; Julia Peyton-Jones, Director, Serpentine Gallery; Michael Prescott, Group Director of Corporate Affairs, BT Group; Peter Riddell, Director, Institute for Government and Jo Swinson MP, Parliamentary Private Secretary to Nick Clegg & Deputy Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats.
The shortlists will be announced on Wednesday 12th September and the winners will be announced at the ceremony breakfast at the RIBA, London, on 18th October 2012, compered by Peter York.
Nominations are open on www.commentawards.com (closing 31st July 2012) and the category judges will then decide the shortlisted nominees and winners to receive awards in the following categories:
Commentariat of the Year
Best Comment Pages
Best Online Comment Site
Columnist of the Year
Business Commentator
Cultural Commentator
Economics Commentator
Foreign Commentator
Media Commentator
Independent Blogger
Mainstream Media Blogger
Political Commentator
Sketch Commentator
Sports Commentator
Twitter Politician
Twitter Public Personality – winner decided by a public vote
Chair’s Choice – chosen by chair of the judges
#eiCommentAwards